In a typical data center, electronic equipment cabinets (i.e., racks) are common pieces of equipment to house servers, storage units, network devices, and other Information Technology (I/T) devices. Electronic equipment cabinets generally have designated units to store the common pieces of equipment. In order to manage all of the electronic equipment being housed in the cabinets, each cabinet often has a monitoring station also known as an administrative console. The administrative console is a work station typically consisting of a display, a keyboard, and mouse, which is used to monitor the operability of the electronic equipment housed in the cabinet. The administrative console can switch between the multiple pieces of electronic equipment in the cabinet housing and, as a result, one administration console can be used per cabinet to reduce costs.
Typical administrative consoles are designed to fit into a single rack unit (RU) in the cabinet housing allowing more space for the electronic equipment to be stored in the cabinet housing. The administrative console is accessed by a sliding mechanism in a “drawer” type of design, where it can slide out from the single rack unit in the electronic equipment cabinet. The administrative console is typically only accessed from the front of the electronic equipment cabinet where a technician (i.e., user) can view status indicators on equipment, power on and off various pieces of equipment, and insert portable media.
However, there are situations where the technician can be working from behind the electronic equipment cabinet adjusting cables, installing additional components, or doing other tasks relating to the electronic equipment. Accessing the administrator console to confirm outcome of these tasks can become an issue if there are multiple long rows of electronic equipment cabinets and the technician has to walk back and forth between the front and rear of the rack as changes are made to the electronic equipment from the rear of the electronic equipment cabinet.